CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIS FAMILY. 103 



and nectarines that I ever saw, that are now in high perfec- 

 tion. My crop of grapes is very great, of Avhich I shall begin 

 gathering to-morrow; and they will supply my table constantly 

 "til the frosts strip the trees of their leaves. I wait much on 

 my vines, and have them trained with great care and exact- 

 ness. 



My S* foin was much damaged ; but my meadow hay was 

 got up in nice order. Hay has proved a prodigious crop in 

 all parts. Bro. Tho. writes that some farmers in Essex offer 

 to sell it at Xmass next at 25s. per ton out of the rick ; and 

 an year ago it was with us at 4 4.9. Od. I cannot think that 

 with us the wheat is any thing of a crop. 



Your affectionate brother and humble Servant, 



GIL. WHITE. 



LETTER V. 



April 6, 1774. 

 DEAR COUSIN, 



AT the request of my uncle I intend doing myself the plea- 

 sure of giving you some account of an extraordinary event 

 which lately happened in the parish of Hawkley *. During the 

 vast rains, a large fragment of the Hanger, late my grand- 

 father's, slipped away for near two hundred yards in length, 

 and fell down the step to the depth of forty feet, carrying with 

 it the coppice-wood, hedge, and gate between the two fields, 

 &c. The sinking of this gate is very strange, as it stands at 

 present as upright as it used to do, and is as easy to be opened 

 and shut. 



The next thing to be observed is a little hop garden and 

 pond, in the former of which there are two or three places 

 that are sunk four or five feet ; besides, many other parts of 

 the garden are very full of large cracks and openings. The 



* [For a full account of this remarkable landslip see Letter XLV. to 

 1 hunes Harrington, Vol. I. p. 227, et seq.T. B.j 



